Friday 26 September 2014 16:07, UK
Andy Murray reached the semi-finals of the Shenzhen Open thanks to a straightforward 6-3 7-5 victory against Lukas Lacko from Slovakia.
The British No 1 beat Somdev Devvarman in his first match back since his US Open quarter-final defeat to Novak Djokovic on Thursday and he made it back-to-back wins with victory over the world No 85 to set up a clash against Juan Monaco.
The 27-year-old faces a battle to reach the ATP World Tour finals at the O2 Arena in London as he currently stands 11th in the Race rankings with only the top eight sure to qualify.
The Scot is chasing points as well as his 29th career title in Shenzhen where he accepted a wild-card to compete.
Murray seized his solitary break point chance in Lacko's opening service game to win the first set, then crucially broke Lacko in the 11th game of the second before serving out for victory in 79 minutes.
He will now take on world No 97 Monaco after the Argentine upset third seed Richard Gasquet 7-6 (9-7) 6-4.
Spain's Tommy Robredo overcame Andreas Seppi from Italy 6-4 6-7 (7-5) 6-3 and the fourth seed will now play Santiago Giraldo for a place in Sunday's final after the Colombian defeated Serbia's Viktor Troicki 7-6 (8-6) 6-3 in the other semi-final.
